Quest and FA to quiz agent over Bolton transfers

Premier League investigators Quest and the Football Association are to question a controversial middle-man about his claimed involvement in the transfer of three players to Bolton Wanderers.

Quest, the company headed by former Metropolitan Police chief Lord Stevens, will interview unlicensed agent David Abou next week about the deals which took two international players to the club in 2004.

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Officials from the FA's compliance department will also question Abou about another Bolton signing made last year.

Earlier this month, the Premier League renewed Quest's one-month rolling contract so they could continue chasing leads.

Now the team, led by managing director Nigel Layton,want to interview Abou following revelations in The Mail on Sunday about his role in the transfer to Bolton from Israeli clubs of Tal Ben Haim and Blessing Kaku.

They will also ask him about new allegations that a licensed agent who had a contract with Kaku was excluded from the deal, while the FA will interview Abou about last year's arrival of Idan Tal at the Reebok Stadium, again from an Israeli club.

After a probe which has lasted more than a year and cost in excess of £1 million,Quest are under pressure to deliver results and are keen to take advantage of Abou's apparent willingness to speak out.

Quest and the FA had originally planned to travel to Israel and speak to Abou on May 2, but as the agent is due to fly back to England on Monday, April 30, on other business, the meetings will now take place in Birmingham the following morning.

Quest and the FA declined to comment, but Abou said last night: "I've been contacted by Quest and we've arranged that when I come to England I will speak to them and the FA about my dealings with Bolton. I believe that what I can tell them and the documents I can show them will complete the jigsaw of their investigations."

In Abou's allegations last month, he claimed that Craig Allardyce, the son of Bolton manager Sam Allardyce, refused to honour an agreement to share the commission he received from the Tal deal.

Abou also alleged that Bolton broke FIFA rules by dealing with him in all three transfers despite knowing that he did not have an agent's licence, and that he and Craig Allardyce received secret payments in the Ben Haim and Kaku deals from Jamie Hart, the licensed agent whose name appears on the official paperwork.Both Bolton and Sam Allardyce have denied any wrongdoing.

In a fresh development in the Blessing Kaku transfer, The Mail On Sunday can reveal today that Quest have been contacted by licensed agent Rachel Anderson, who claims she was frozen out of the deal despite having signed an exclusive representation contract with the player.

Anderson, who famously won a legal case against the Professional Footballers' Association after they stopped her attending their annual dinner because she was a woman, says she was astonished when she read Abou's account of the Kaku deal, which alleged that Jamie Hart shared his £20,000 commission with Abou and Craig Allardyce.

She is furious with Bolton and the FA, who she claims failed to investigate properly the complaints she made at the time and allowed the deal to go through.

Anderson said: "Kaku signed an exclusive representation agreement with me,effective from June 1, 2004, but after he played a trial match for Bolton in the August, he suddenly went out of contact. The club knew I was the player's agent but I was cut out of the deal. The FA failed to act despite my contract being lodged with them.

"This is not about the money, this is about benefits to parties who have no legitimate part in negotiations and the governing body failing to do their job to protect players and agents."

After she sent Kaku's profile to Bolton on July 29, 2004 — his name was not revealed, as is common practice among agents trying to find clubs for lesser known players — Anderson says that Craig Allardyce rang her back wanting to know who the player was, what the fee might be and whether the player could come on trial.

After a week of training at the club, Kaku played the last 20 minutes of Bolton's 1-1 friendly draw with Real Zaragoza at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday, August 7, but Anderson says she then found herself unable to contact her client.

She claims that, when she finally got hold of him, "Blessing said he was being told that the deal would not go ahead if he continued to use me as his agent".

Two other sources, both close to the player,claim Kaku told them the same thing.

Anderson made telephone calls and sent faxes to Bolton and the selling club, Israeli side MS Ashdod, seeking an explanation.

Anderson said: "Phil Gartside (Bolton's chairman) called me back and said there were a number of agents claiming to represent Kaku. I said he should check with the FA, who had a contract with the player lodged at Soho Square (the FA's London headquarters)."

Anderson also sent a fax to the FA, copied to Gartside,demanding that they investigate the matter. A week later an FA administrator emailed back, saying: "I have now spoken at length with our compliance department about the issues raised. As a result, on the basis of information available to us at this present time,there does not appear to have been a breach of our regulations.

"However, given the contractual position between yourself and the player, Blessing Kaku, you will be aware that you may have recourse to civil proceedings."

It is understood that the FA had found another representation contract for Kaku lodged at Soho Square, this time with Jamie Hart. Anderson was unaware of this and of the fact that when the FA contacted the player about the apparent conflict, Kaku said he wanted to be represented by Hart.

When the deal went through later in August,Anderson decided not to pursue legal action against Kaku for breach of contract, the option hinted at in the FA's email to her.

But when she read The Mail On Sunday's story about the involvement of Abou and the alleged payment to Craig Allardyce, she contacted the FA demanding an explanation.

An FA spokesman said: "We sought clarification from the player and club, and, based on the information we had, there was nothing further we could do from a regulatory point of view. The issue was a contractual dispute between an agent and a player."

But it was also a matter covered by FIFA's rules on the conduct of agents.

The regulations, which the FA are supposed to uphold, say that agents must "respect the contractual relations of professional colleagues and will refrain from any action that could entice clients away from other parties."

Other sources in the deal claim that Kaku had never met Hart until he arrived in Bolton for his week's trial,and although the FA have declined to reveal details of the two representation contracts, Anderson believes that her documents pre-date Hart's.

Bolton were asked for answers to a number of specific questions relating to the Kaku deal but declined to comment.

Hart's solicitor, Chris Farnell, also declined to comment.

Kaku played only 133 minutes of football for Bolton and, after a loan spell at Derby, he was placed on the transfer list in January.

He returned to Israel the following summer and Abou says he received £5,000 from Craig Allardyce's company, Prolific Management, for his part in the sale.

Abou is a colourful and controversial figure in his native Israel, where he is suing both Tal Ben Haim and Idan Tal, claiming they broke agreements to pay him for securing their transfers.

Ben Haim and his father,Imanuel,have alleged in a counterclaim that Abou misled them about whether he was a licensed agent and that one of the documents Abou has submitted to support his case is a forgery. Abou denies the claims.